Monday, October 27, 2014

Our Long Municipal Nightmare Is Over

Of course one's first response must be an overwhelming sense of relief. The Ford's are gone from power in this town, even though Rob reclaimed his council seat out in Etobicoke. That's a sideshow. Peak Ford has passed. Ford Nation is dead. Even though they turned out in full force for this the Ford's have no true successors in T.O. politics. Mammoleti is asshole enough, but he's got 0 charisma. And you can literally smell the crazy on him. So Ford Nation will go back to drinking beer and watching football.

But its worth saying something about the campaigns, as they struck me, through this long dismal affair of an election.

I won't spend too much time on DOFO. Probably my biggest impression of him was derived from a couple of days ago, They were showing one of his events on the tube and I was watching, with sound off, as this woman stood next to a life-side cardboard cutout of Doug Ford while she praised the man himself. She talked for a good 30 seconds while the cutout smiled menacingly, as the real Doug Ford is wont to do. And then cardboard cutout blinked, and I realized the it was actually DOFO! That was weird. People shouldn't be physically able to stand still for that long at one time, with their teeth fully on display.

As for Olivia. Poor Olivia. But wait, you might say, she doesn't need my sympathy! And you're probably right. She's loaded, after all. They even did a movie about her dead hubby. But then why was she playing on my sympathies for the last month of the campaign? Let's get something clear. She was the subject of racial attacks throughout this thing and they stunk; they made the whole city look bad. BUT THEY WERE NOT A REASON TO VOTE FOR HER! She handled all of this stuff personally with great aplomb, but her campaign seemed to work it into their messaging, and her supporters have been hosting an endless pity party. But: "Vote For Me I'm A Victim", as a slogan, don't attract flies in this town. Oh, and along the same lines, why bring up her support for an inquiry for murdered aboriginal women as a reason to support her as T.O. mayor? It's a good cause, but I GOT STUCK ON A TTC BUS FOR AN HOUR TODAY, AND SPENT ANOTHER HOUR GROWING OLD IN MY CAR ON DON MILLS ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON! A DUDE GOT KNIFED UP THE ROAD LAST MONTH IN A FIGHT OVER A LADDER! AND UPPITY DOWNTOWN RICHY RICH ASSHOLES ARE SCREWING SCARBOROUGH OUTTA ITS RIGHTFUL PARKS & REC MONEY. AND I'M SUPPOSED TO VOTE OUTTA SOLIDARITY WITH DEAD PEOPLE IN SOME OTHER FUCKING PROVINCE??????? WHAT KIND OF STONED-OUT HIPPYS Chillen'IN THEIR HAMMOCK AND SMOKIN' SPLIFF ON PLANET MORON THOUGHT UP THAT IDEA?

And there was also the issue of Olivia's inability to communicate. This charge was usually brought out in reference to her sometimes clunky English, but I will just note that her brush will Ramsey Hunt syndrome came at an unfortunate juncture. She had gotten alot better towards the end of the campaign, but I still think this medical issue might have degraded the quality of some of her off the cuff responses.

As for mayor elect John Tory, the best thing you can say about him is that he is relatively harmless. He will attend gay pride events, as he should. He won't publicly berate city staff, and when negotiations come up in a year he will probably be looking to extract fewer concessions from his muni workers than a second Ford administration would have. The thing against QAIA will fade when he realizes that the city's human rights laws depend on the province and he can't do squat unless the province does. Mind you the city might get stuck with another subway that nobody rides, at the cost of billions. But it can survive that.